Less is Now

Duran Duran - All You Need Is Now (2011) [ CD+Bonus CD] {Tape Modern / HMV}
EAC rip (secure mode) | FLAC+CUE+LOG -> 662 Mb | MP3 @320 -> 192 Mb
Artwork @ 300 dpi (jpg) -> 112 Mb
© 2011 Tape Modern / HMV | DURANHMV01
Rock / Contemporary Pop / Synth Pop

This thirteenth studio album from the legendary British new wave/new romantic band is the follow-up to 2007's 'Red Carpet Massacre' and is the first following their split with Epic Records. While the last album featured production by Danja and Timbaland and had something of a dance/RnB sound, on this record they have gone "back to basics" to produce a classic pop album in the vein of their early material. Produced by Mark Ronson, it features guest spots by Kelis and Scissor Sister Ana Matronic.

The line dividing black gospel and so-called secular music has always been a thin one, and musicians have rarely been afraid to step over it. In the 1920s, the blind singer “Arizona” Juanita Dranes wed ragtime and boogie—rhythms associated with saloons and barrelhouses—to Holiness movement hymns. Later, Mahalia Jackson, who refused to record secular records, nonetheless achieved massive popularity outside the sanctified confines of the gospel scene. A true pioneer, Sister Rosetta Tharpe scandalized the church by performing in nightclubs, practically inventing rock & roll in the process. By the early 1970s, blockbuster Stax singles by the Staple Singers proved artists could exist comfortably in both worlds, or suggested that perhaps these distinct spheres actually overlapped.

Duran Duran and producer Mark Ronson envisioned the 2011 release All You Need Is Now as a sequel to the band’s 1982 effort Rio, but fans are better off approaching it as the imaginary effort that came after 1983’s Seven and the Ragged Tiger. Follow their analogy, and this should sound like a band that just created a new wave icon, but here there’s an enthusiasm and sense of purpose that can only come from an act less cocksure than one that is on top.